The Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell takes part in the Hydrogen Road Tour.
(Credit: GM)Electric cars have been getting plenty of buzz lately, but the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is still going strong. The California Fuel Cell Partnership, along with Powertech Labs, National Hydrogen Association, and U.S. Fuel Cell Council, will seek to regain the spotlight with a road trip to demonstrate the practicality of these vehicles.
The road tour route runs up the West Coast, from Chula Vista to Vancouver.
(Credit: California Fuel Cell Partnership)Twelve fuel cell cars from seven automakers will drive from Chula Vista, in Southern California, up to Vancouver, Canada, a trip of 1,700 miles. Vancouver was chosen for the destination because it will play host to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, where a fleet of fuel cell buses will provide transportation.
Fuel cell cars that will be making the trip include the Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell, Mercedes F-Cell, Honda FCX Clarity, Hyundai Tucson FCEV, Kia Borrego FCEV, Nissan X-Trail, Toyota FCHV-adv Highlander, and Volkswagen HyMotion. The cars, which have ranges of 200 to over 500 miles, will be relying on a mobile refueling station for their hydrogen needs.
The tour starts on May 26 in Chula Vista, and ends on June 3 in Vancouver. Stops have been scheduled along the route so the public can get a chance to see these cars. Check the Hydrogen Road Tour '09 Web site to see if there's an event near you.
(Credit:
CNET)
If you watched the Olympics in Beijing, you may have noticed Volkswagen Passats being used as pace cars for some of the running and cycling competitions. More than just product placement, these Passats demonstrated a hydrogen fuel cell power train built by Volkswagen at its China research laboratory. The car is called the Volkswagen Passat Ling Yu hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, and we got a chance to drive it here in California.
Volkswagen brought a number of these cars to the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CFCP), a unique organization that works with major automakers such as Honda, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and Volkswagen on fuel cell research. CFCP also promotes research into hydrogen generation and filling stations.
So, on a hot Sacramento day, we took the wheel of a car that just might be the future of automotive transportation. As the car is built on the Passat platform, it doesn't exactly look like the car of the future. The controls and ergonomics are all very familiar. But a kilowatt gauge takes the place of a tachometer on the instrument cluster.
The gauge on the left shows how many kilowatts the motor is drawing.
(Credit: CNET)Although driven by an electric motor, which doesn't make much sound in itself, the car produced a steady whining sound. Not unpleasant, but certainly noticeable, it came from the compressor used to push hydrogen into the fuel cell. The power-train packaging is similar to that of a gas-engine car, with the fuel cell stack, compressor, and control software under the hood, and hydrogen tanks at the rear axle. The car also has a lithium ion battery in the middle of the chassis, which provides electricity storage for the regenerative brakes and supplements the flow to the motor.
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We had a random encounter with this hydrogen-powered F-Cell vehicle.
(Credit: CNET)While out testing the very stylish Aston Martin DB9 Volante in the Santa Cruz Mountains recently, we ran across the car's opposite, a Mercedes-Benz F-Cell research car. We caught up with the F-Cell (easily) and followed it to a vista point, where we cornered its driver and started grilling him about the car. It's not often you see the future of the automobile out in the wild like this.
This F-Cell was from the first generation, built into Mercedes-Benz's A-class platform, a small vehicle that's not sold in the U.S. Its 5,000-psi hydrogen tank feeds a fuel cell that produces electricity, in turn powering an 87-horsepower electric motor.
The driver of the car was a Mercedes-Benz engineer stationed with the car in Palo Alto, California. The company maintains many test fleets. He had pulled into the parking lot not because he thought James Bond was on his tail, but to plug his laptop into the F-Cell and download diagnostic data. Mercedes-Benz has logged well over a million miles with these F-Cell cars, and every mile yields useful data about performance in the real world.
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ONR)
In what it says is a "first of its kind" initiative, the U.S. Navy plans to launch sometime this spring an unmanned aerial vehicle for a 24-hour endurance flight carrying a 5-pound payload and powered entirely by a hydrogen-powered fuel cell.
Called the Ion Tiger, the UAV can travel farther and carry heavier loads than earlier battery-powered designs, according to the Office of Naval Research. It also boasts "stealthy characteristics" such as reduced noise, low heat signature, and zero emissions (PDF).
"This will really be a demonstration for a fuel cell system in a UAV application," ONR Program Manager Dr. Michele Anderson said. "That's something nobody can do right now."
Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water in a pollution-free process to create an electrical current delivering up to double the efficiency of an internal combustion engine, researchers claim.
The Tiger will use a "500-watt polymer fuel cell with a high specific power system." Weight will be reduced using high-pressure lightweight hydrogen storage tanks. The UAV has already "demonstrated sound aerodynamics, high functionality, and low-heat and noise signatures under battery-powered tests," according to ONR.
This test will show how a surveillance drone can operate economically with less possibility of detection and still exceed the duration of previous flights seven-fold.
Collaborators include Protonex Technology and the University of Hawaii.
Mazda's new test vehicle uses a series hybrid powertrain.
(Credit: Mazda)To further its research into new powertrain technology, Mazda began leasing a series hybrid vehicle with a hydrogen-fueled range extending engine to energy companies and local governments. This type of test leasing helps automakers gain useful data on how cars operate in a controlled setting, and ensures that the vehicles' drivers have hydrogen filling stations available.
Although the powertrain configuration is similar to that of the Chevrolet Volt, a series hybrid using an electric motor to power the wheels and a range-extending engine to generate electricity, Mazda puts its own twist on the system, with a hydrogen-burning rotary engine as a range extender. Mazda previously developed an RX-8 using a rotary engine that burned hydrogen, calling it the RX-8 Hydrogen RE. BMW has also explored burning hydrogen in an internal combustion engine with the Hydrogen 7.
Mazda's new vehicle is called the Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid, and is built on the five passenger Premacy platform. It has a 110 kilowatt motor to turn the wheels, which gets juice from a lithium ion battery pack. When the battery runs low, the rotary engine kicks in to generate electricity, drawing hydrogen from a 5,000 PSI tank. As configured, the Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid gets a range of 125 miles.
The car includes a dual fuel system, making it possible to use gasoline if no hydrogen is available.
A driver fills up a Fuel Cell Vehicle with hydrogen at one of California's few public hydrogen refueling stations. California is expected to get 46 more hydrogen retail stations by 2014.
(Credit: California Fuel Cell Partnership)Paving the way for the so-called Hydrogen Super Highway, California Fuel Cell Partnership released a roadmap that details plans for 46 retail hydrogen fueling stations in six targeted California communities by 2014. Hydrogen is considered to be the holy grail of clean transportation because Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV) emit only water when driven, but a lack of infrastructure is one of the major roadblocks to this advancement.
"By 2017, automotive manufacturers plan to place 50,000 zero-emission fuel cell vehicles in customer hands. FCVs will provide the performance, durability, driving range, and comfort that customers want, and meet the nation's need for a domestic fuel that is better for the environment," said Catherine Dunwoody, CaFCP's executive director in a press release.
For the moment, only six of the state's 26 hydrogen refueling stations are open to the public. Most are privately owned and operated for corporate fleet or testing vehicles. The CaFCP gave details for the cost of building 40 stations by 2012, which is projected to be $181.5 million and is expected to be funded largely by the government to incentivize the industry to begin the transition to hydrogen.
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(Credit:
New Holland Agriculture)
Taking the lessons learned from the development of hydrogen-powered cars and applying them on a larger scale, New Holland Agriculture has developed the impressive NH2, the world's first hydrogen-powered tractor.
A peek under the hood reveals the radical new hydrogen-electric power plant.
(Credit: New Holland Agriculture)The NH2 was developed as part of New Holland Agriculture's Energy Independent Farm concept, a framework for future agriculture in which farmers produce their own compressed hydrogen from water using electricity produced by wind farms, solar panels, or biomass and biogas processes situated on the farm.
The experimental NH2 tractor replaces the traditional combustion engine with hydrogen fuel cells that convert compressed hydrogen back into electricity to drive the electric motors powering the tractor's drivetrain and auxiliary systems.
More than just an idea, the NH2 tractor is a 106-horsepower, working prototype able to perform all the tasks of a New Holland's T6000 tractor, only with no emissions and in near silence.
The fuel cell generates less heat than an internal-combustion engine, offers a consistent output of power, and does not produce polluting nitrogen oxides, soot particles, or carbon dioxide. The clean operation of the tractor brings added health benefits when working in confined areas, such as animal sheds or greenhouses.
The Volkswagen Lingyu fuel cell electric vehicle prototype
(Credit: Volkswagen)The Volkswagen Passat Lingyu is the latest fuel cell vehicle to join the testing program at the California Fuel Cell Partnership in Sacramento, Calif., according to an announcement issued last week by the German carmaker.
Volkswagen recently imported 16 of the zero-emissions fuel cell electric vehicles that were developed in partnership with scientists from Tongji University and debuted at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The Lingyu uses hydrogen to power an electric motor, and produces only water and oxygen as emissions. ... Read more
While its tech is quite different, an Air Products hydrogen fueling station is built to look like a typical gas station.
(Credit: Air Products)Hempstead, N.Y., a small town on Long Island, is installing the island's first hydrogen fueling station.
Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray made the announcement at the groundbreaking ceremony in conjunction with the New York State Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the electric utility National Grid on Wednesday.
The station will actually pump three options: pure hydrogen, hydrogen with compressed natural gas, and natural gas. Air Products is contributing to the station design, build, and maintenance.
While that station will cost about $2 million to build, it will be subsidized with $1 million from NYSERDA, $55,000 in the form of a grant from National Grid, and additional tax credits.
As with the electric charging stations being installed in San Francisco, the pilot station in the town of Hempstead is being used to promote and educate the public about alternative fuel options for cars.
National Grid will own the station for the first three years, after which it will be handed over to the town. The station will be networked with others under the New York State Hydrogen Energy Roadmap.
"While it's gratifying to be at the forefront of 'green energy' initiatives, it's more important to contribute in a meaningful way toward the goals of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and reducing environmental pollutants. This effort is an important step toward achieving those priorities," Murray said in a statement to the press.
What will it take for hydrogen-powered cars, which emit only water vapor as exhaust, to enter American highways in large numbers? Filling stations are a good start.
The Hydrogen Road Tour was a coast-to-coast caravan of hydrogen-powered cars organized to educate consumers and policy-makers on the promise of the technology. The two-week event, which traveled from Portland, Maine to Los Angeles, was sponsored by trade associations and the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Energy.
The first stop after leaving Portland was Billerica, Mass., where there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the state's first hydrogen fueling station. Click on the embedded video image to check out the scene.
The hydrogen filling station is located at the corporate headquarters of Nuvera Fuel Cells, which has developed a system to convert natural gas to hydrogen. The company will be the main customer of the hydrogen, which it will use for its product development and research.
During the event, I spoke to the CEO of Nuvera about what's needed to make hydrogen cars for the masses.
I also took a ride in a bi-fuel car that runs on hydrogen and gasoline from BMW, which it calls a transition technology on the way to widespread fuel-cell vehicles.
There are only a handful of hydrogen refueling stations in the U.S. which will be built around large cities. Fuel cell vehicle advocates say those fueling stations will bring more hydrogen cars and cleaner ways to produce hydrogen.
